System for and method of paper note authentication and tracking through NFC

ABSTRACT

A system for and method of paper note authentication and tracking through NFC is presented. The system and method includes utilizing an authenticating device to receive paper note data using an NFC reader, transmit the paper note data to an authenticating party, receive an authentication determination and/or additional paper note data, and authenticate the paper note where the authentication determination indicates accordingly. The system and method may further include updating the paper note data upon authentication to prevent duplicate authentication attempts.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Paper note authentication is important in combating counterfeit papernotes. Paper notes may include, for example, currency, bonds, stocks,checks, notarized documents, and other certificates. Communicatingauthentication of a paper note may be through a variety of channels andmay include a lengthy process. Moreover, authentication of a paper notemay include a subjective analysis and thus, may provide varying resultsdepending on the authenticator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention, together with further objects and advantages, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures ofwhich like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system according to aparticular embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a hardware component of the system of aparticular embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the functionality of a particularembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A system and method may include various exemplary embodiments forauthenticating and tracking a paper note using near field communication(“NFC”) technology. A paper note may include any document that mayrequire authentication, such as, for example, currency, bonds, stocks,checks, notarized documents, certificates, and other data that isauthenticated. Each paper note to be authenticated and tracked maycontain a particular piece of data that can be read using an NFC reader.Each time the paper note must be authenticated, an NFC reader may readthe information held on the paper note data. Paper note data mayinclude, but is not limited to, an authentication and/or transactionhistory, creation date, creator, authentication data, paper note amount,paper note signature data, owner, and/or other identifying information.An authentication tag may include, for example, a pre-shared secret key.An owner may be a party who currently owns the authentic paper note.

In use, the paper note data may be read by an NFC reader in order toauthenticate and track the paper note. The NFC reader may pass the papernote data to an authenticating party, such as, for example, a clearinghouse. The clearing house may communicate with the paper note creator toverify paper note data, including authentication data. A paper notecreator may include, for example, a financial institution, a bankinginstitution, a government institution, a private company, and/or anauthenticated individual. In other embodiments, the clearing house mayverify the paper note without the input of a paper note creator at thetime authentication is desired.

Once the paper note creator and/or clearing house verifies that thepaper note is authentic, the verification may be sent to the devicehousing the NFC reader. Authentication data may then be updated,replaced, or altered once the paper note housing authentication data hasbeen verified as authentic. For example, where authentication datacomprises a pre-shared key, a new pre-shared key may be sent by theauthenticating party, owner, creator, and/or a third party providingauthentication data, and stored in authentication data storage of thepaper note. This may ensure that a paper note cannot be duplicated andsubsequently authenticated twice since authentication data may only beused once. For example, where the authentication data comprises apre-shared key, each pre-shared key may only be used once inauthentication. Where a paper note may need to go through multipleauthentications at different times and with a different party orparties, where each authentication data for each authentication attemptmay be distinct. In other examples, a number of paper note datum and/orauthentication datum may be used for the authentication and/ortransaction processes. For example, along with authentication data,paper note data, such as an authentication log that contains a historyof all authentications of the paper note, may be used so that theauthentication log read from the paper note data may be compared to anauthentication log associated with the paper note that is stored overthe network. Similar to the updating of the authentication data, otherpaper note data may also be updated and compared to create amulti-factor authentication. The updating of authentication data andother paper note data allows a paper note to be authenticated more thanonce, without compromising the security of authentication data.

The decision of whether a paper note requires multi-factorauthentication maybe determined based on a risk associated with thepaper note. For example, the risk associated with duplicating a papernote associated with a high worth or value (such as a bond worth a lotof money or an extremely important legal document) may be higher than apaper note associated with a lower worth or value, such as a dollarbill. In general, the paper note creator (whether government or privateparty) may determine whether or not multi-factor authentication is to beused.

The additional layer of security of additional data associated with thepaper note may be sent and stored over a network as well. The additionaldata associated with the paper note may be stored with a clearing house,a paper note creator, and/or a third party. For example, a digital imageof the original paper note may be stored over a network. The digitalimage may be scanned or captured using, for example, a camera uponcreation. Upon authentication of the paper note, the digital image ofthe original paper note may also be compared to a current image of thepaper note (also obtained using a scanner or a camera) for visualinspection of authentication. For example, where a paper note is anotarized document with a digital signature, and the digital signaturehouses authentication data, the digital image of the original notarizeddocument may be compared to the current image of the notarized documentfor a visual comparison. Furthermore, a picture of the requesting partymay be captured using a camera, and upon an authentication attempt, theimage of the requesting party may be sent and stored over the network.In this manner, the requestor's identity may be checked by anauthenticating party, the creator, the owner, or a third party systembefore authentication. The system may require the owner and/or creatorto verify that the requesting party is not attempting a fraudulentauthentication. In another example, the digital image of the requestingparty may be compared to a digital image associated with anidentification card of the requesting party, which may be stored overthe network. Additionally, the image of the requesting party may be usedafter authentication when a duplicate authentication request is madeand/or challenged. In this manner, the owner, creator, authenticatingparty, and/or a third party may be provided with dispute resolutionregarding the varying authentication attempts.

In response to the request, additional paper note data, such as, forexample, authentication attempt date and time, creator data, and/or lastauthentication date and time may be sent to the paper note owner and/orthe creator for verification purposes as well. A paper note owner may bea party who is a registered owner of the paper note. In this manner,where a paper note has been duplicated and a party is listed as theowner and/or creator of the paper note, the owner and/or creator may benotified of an authentication attempt in order to verify that the owneris the requesting party who is attempting to authenticate the paper noteor that the authentication attempt is otherwise approved by theowner/creator. This notification may be in the form of an email, textmessage, phone call, SMS, MMS, push notification, or the like to adevice registered as associated with the owner and/or creator. Thisinformation may be stored in data storage over the network. Should theresponse to the notification approve or affirm authentication, theauthentication process may continue and either continue to otherauthentication steps or transmit an approved authentication to thenetwork device attempting to authenticate the paper note. Should theresponse to the notification be a denial of authentication, the deviceregistered to the owner and/or creator may generate a stopauthentication command to the network device attempting to authenticatethe document and the paper note may be deemed inauthentic.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a system 100 according to aparticular embodiment. The system 100 may include a network element 104,a clearing house 106, a computer 108, a mobile device 110, and datastorage 114 all connected over a network 110. A network element 104,computer 108, and mobile device 110 may all be equipped with NFCtransceivers that may read paper note data 116 a, which may includeauthentication data 116 b, of the paper note 116. The paper note data116 a, which may include the authentication data 116 b may be read by anNFC reader or other data reader. Accordingly, paper note data 116 a andauthentication data 116 b may reside on various tags including NDEF,RFID, and ISO 14443. Additionally, the paper note data 116 a andauthentication data 116 b may reside on tags such as PicoPass, anyMifare product, Topaz, Jewel, My-d move, My-d NFC, FeliCa, Kovio, SmartMX, SLE 66 CL, Micropass, Vault IC, Type 4+, 16RF, B Prime, and thelike. In a preferred embodiment, the paper note data 116 a andauthentication data 116 b may be embedded within the paper note 116 atthe time of manufacture in the form of an NFC wafer. In anotherembodiment the paper note data 116 a and the authentication data 116 bmay be added to the paper note 116 at the time of authentication in theform of an NFC wafer. Moreover, the system may contain a communicationlink 112, which a mobile device 110 may utilize to connect to thenetwork 110.

As used herein, the term “network” may be a wireless network, a wirednetwork or any combination of wireless network and wired network. Forexample, a network may include one or more of a fiber optics network, apassive optical network, a cable network, an Internet network, asatellite network (e.g., operating in Band C, Band Ku or Band Ka), awireless LAN, a Global System for Mobile Communication (“GSM”), aPersonal Communication Service (“PCS”), a Personal Area Network (“PAN”),D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, Fixed Wireless Data, IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.15.1,802.11n and 802.11g or any other wired or wireless network fortransmitting and/or receiving a data signal. In addition, a network mayinclude, without limitation, telephone line, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet802.3, a wide area network (“WAN”), a local area network (“LAN”), or aglobal network such as the Internet. Also, a network may support, anInternet network, a wireless communication network, a cellular network,or the like, or any combination thereof. A network may further includeone, or any number of the exemplary types of networks mentioned aboveoperating as a stand-alone network or in cooperation with each other. Anetwork may utilize one or more protocols of one or more networkelements to which it is communicatively coupled. A network may translateto or from other protocols to one or more protocols of network devices.

A paper note 116, in addition to information printed on the surface ofthe note or otherwise accessible such as watermarking, may store papernote data which may be read using an NFC reader of a network element104, computer 108, and/or mobile device 110. Upon reading paper notedata, a network element 104, computer 108, and/or mobile device 110 maytransmit the paper note data to an authenticating party 106, which maybe a clearing house and begin the authentication process detailed inFIG. 3.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a hardware component of the systemof an exemplary embodiment. While FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram ofa mobile device 110, such as a mobile phone, similar components may beincluded in any mobile device 110, network element 104, and computer108. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a mobile device 200 may include amicrophone 202, a speaker 204, and a voice encoder (“vocoder”) 206, foraudio input and output functions. A mobile device 200 may also include adisplay 222, connected to a touch sensor 226 to enable a “touch screen”on the mobile device 200, key(s) 230 to enable alphanumeric input, acamera 240, a sensory control 228, and a display driver 224 tofacilitate user input/output. A camera 240 may be used in order toreceive visual input, such as, for example, a picture of the partyrequesting paper note authentication. Moreover, a mobile device 200 mayinclude a microprocessor 212 and various types of memory, such as RAM216 and flash memory 214, which may store a client application 215. Aclient application 215 may include instructions that when executed mayperform paper note authentication as illustrated in FIG. 3.

A mobile device 200 may also include at least one transceiver (XCVR) 208for wireless communication, which may include a digital transceiver, anNFC transceiver, and/or an analog transceiver. Each transceiver 208 mayconnect to an external input/output device, such as an antenna and/orNFC reader 210. An NFC reader 210 may include short range, highfrequency technology that enables short range exchange of data with apaper note 116. When a paper note 116 is place in proximity to a networkelement 104, computer 108, or mobile device 110, an NFC reader 210 mayread paper note data from a corresponding NFC-enabled paper note data116 a, including authentication data 116 b. Thus, the network element104, computer 108, or mobile device 110 may be used to identify andassist in authentication of a paper note 116.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart illustrating the functionality of aparticular embodiment. The method 300 of FIG. 3 begins at step 302. Atstep 304, a device used in authenticating the paper note may receivepaper note data from the paper note via an NFC reader 210. Paper notedata 116 a may be passively stored data and include, but is not limitedto, an authentication and/or transaction history, creation date,creator, authentication data 116 b, paper note amount, paper notesignature data, owner, and/or other identifying information.Authentication data 116 b may include, for example, a pre-shared secretkey. An owner may be a party who currently owns the authentic papernote. An authenticating device may be, for example, a network element104, a computer 108, and/or a mobile device 110. The authenticatingdevice may also capture an image of the party requesting authenticationusing a camera to combine with the paper note data.

At step 306, the device used in authenticating the paper note maytransmit the paper note data 116 a, including authentication data 116 bto an authenticating party 106. The authenticating party 106 may be aclearing house, a paper note creator, or another third party. As anexample, where the authenticating party 106 is a clearing house, theclearing house may communicate with the paper note creator to verifypaper note data 116 a, including authentication data 116 b. A paper notecreator may include, for example, a financial institution, a bankinginstitution, a government institution, a private company, and/or anauthenticated individual. The clearing house may also verify the papernote without the input of a paper note creator. Moreover, when acaptured image of the party requesting authentication is combined withthe paper note data in step 304, the image of the requesting party mayalso be transmitted in step 306 to the authenticating party, creator,and or a third party for verification purposes.

At step 308, the authenticating party determines whether the paper noteis authentic. An authentic paper note may include a paper note thatmaintains up to date paper note data 116 a and/or authentication data116 b that is valid and unused. Additionally, an authentic paper notemay be determined by comparing various paper note datum, including theauthentication data 116 b. In this manner, a multi-factor authenticationmay take place allowing multiple data fields to be compared tocorresponding data fields stored over the network 110.

In one example, where a paper note 116 is a check, authentication data116 b of the check may include a first pre-shared secret key. Once acheck is authenticated, a new secret key may be sent to the check fromthe authenticating party to be stored as a second pre-shared secret keyon the paper note 116 using NFC. As an example, where authenticationincludes only authentication of a pre-shared key, an attempt toauthenticate a duplicate check containing a duplicate first pre-sharedsecret key presented to an authenticating party may result in a deniedauthentication since the first pre-shared secret key does not match thesecond, or updated pre-shared key that is the current authenticationdata 116 b associated with the check. In another example, the paper note116 may be associated with a high value or worth, and the paper notedata 116 a may include an authentication log and unique authenticationdata 116 b. In this instance, both the authentication log stored on thepaper note 116 and the unique authentication data 116 b may be comparedto an authentication log stored over the network 110 and a uniqueauthentication data stored over the network 110. Once authenticated,both the authentication log and the unique authentication data stored onthe paper note and over the network may be updated. The updated datastored over the network 110 and on the paper note 116 prevent aduplicate authentication of a potentially counterfeit paper note 116since the potentially counterfeit paper note 116 will not have theupdated paper note data 116 a stored on the paper note 116. Theassociations between paper note 116 and paper note data 116 a may bestored in data storage associated with the authenticating party (notshown) and thus in one embodiment inaccessible to entities other thanthe authenticating party. Alternatively, this data may be stored in datastorage 114 accessible over the network 110.

Once the authenticating party makes an authentication determination, theauthenticating party may transmit that determination through the network110 to the authenticating device, such as a mobile device 200. In step310, the authenticating device subsequently receives the determination,which may indicate that the paper note is not authentic and/or moreinformation is required in order to authenticate.

Where an authentication determination is that more information isneeded, the authenticating party may transmit details of the additionalinformation needed along with the authentication determination. In otherembodiments, the details of the additional information needed may besent separately from the authentication determination in an additionalcommunication. Furthermore these authentication details may be sent toany device accessible by and associated with the requesting party,owner, and/or creator. For example, where a visual inspection of thepaper note is needed to accompany the authentication determination, andthe received paper note data does not include a current digital image ofthe paper note 116 (due to lack of scanning and/or camera capabilitiesfor example), the authenticating party may transmit a digital image ofthe original paper note as stored in data storage 114. A visualinspection of the paper note may then be performed by comparing thedigital image of the paper note received from the authenticating party106 with the paper note presented for authentication. As anotherexample, additional information needed for authentication may includeverification from a paper note owner and/or creator. In this instance,the details of the additional information may be transmitted to a papernote owner and/or creator (which may or may not be the party requestingauthentication), and in response the paper note owner and/or creator mayneed to provide a verification that the authentication attempt is valid.For example, the paper note owner may receive an alert on a mobiledevice with authentication attempt details and the paper note owner maythen verify the attempt by responding to the alert. Additionally, if thepaper note is owned by a company and/or a government entity, the companyand/or government entity may also receive an alert with authenticationattempt details.

In step 311, where the authentication determination requests additionalinformation in order to make a final authentication determination, theadditional information and/or data may be sent to the authenticatingparty through the network 110 from a creator, clearing house, datastorage 114 or other third party system. For example, for verificationusing visual inspection of the paper note or verification of the papernote owner and/or creator, the original and current images stored overthe network and/or captured using a camera or scanner may be transmittedto the authenticating party. The authenticating party, having receivedthe additional information through the network 110, may then process theadditional information to come to a final authentication determinationat step 308.

In step 312, when the authenticating party receives a decision that theauthentication attempt is invalid, the authenticating device may thentransmit an alert to the paper note owner, the paper note creator,and/or a third party alerting system. The alert may include datarepresentative of the failed authentication attempt including a date andtimestamp of the authentication attempt, a location of authenticationattempt, the identity of the individual associated with the failedauthentication attempt, including visual data, and any relevant papernote data or authenticating party data such as authenticating partylocation. The alert data may also be used to correlate forgery orcounterfeit paper note usage throughout a predetermined location, suchas the United States, or a predetermined day, date, or time range. Thepredetermined location or day, date, or time range may be designated bythe paper note owner, paper note creator, and/or a third party alertingsystem. The method may then end at step 314.

Where the authentication determination indicates that the paper note isauthentic, the authenticating party may transmit that determination tothe authenticating device, such as a mobile device 200. In step 316, theauthenticating device may receive the authenticating party determinationalong with new paper note data 116 a, which may include newauthentication data 116 b. In step 318, new or updated paper note data116 a including new or updated authentication data 116 b may betransmitted from the authenticating party to the paper note 116 usingNFC technology in order to store new or updated paper note data 116 a onthe paper note. The authenticating party may also store the new orupdated paper note data 116 a in a secure data storage (not shown).Alternatively, where the new or updated paper note data 116 a is storedin a data storage 114 over the network 110, the authenticating party maynot permanently store the new or updated paper note data 116 a that ittransmits. In this manner, the new or updated paper note data 116 a maynot be compromised via the authenticating party. Paper note data 116 amay include an authentication log, such as authentication attemptdetails including a date and timestamp of the authentication, a locationof authentication, the identity of the individual associated with theauthentication, and any other relevant authentication and/or transactiondata. The method may then end at step 320.

It is to be appreciated that the set of instructions, e.g., thesoftware, which configures the computer operating system to perform theoperations described above may be contained on any of a wide variety ofmedia or medium, as desired. Further, any data that is processed by theset of instructions might also be contained on any of a wide variety ofmedia or medium. That is, the particular medium, i.e., the memory in theprocessing machine, utilized to hold the set of instructions and/or thedata used in the invention may take on any of a variety of physicalforms or transmissions, for example. Illustratively, the medium may bein the form of paper, paper transparencies, a compact disk, a DVD, anintegrated circuit, a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, amagnetic tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, a EPROM, a wire, a cable, a fiber,communications channel, a satellite transmissions or other remotetransmission, as well as any other medium or source of data that may beread by a computer.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with references to the accompanying drawings. It will,however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be madethereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, withoutdeparting from the broader scope of invention as set forth in the claimsthat follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to beregarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

We claim:
 1. A system, comprising: a network; an authenticating devicecomprising an NFC reader and one or more visual input devices, whereinthe authenticating device is configured to perform the steps comprising:receiving, via the NFC reader, paper note data associated with a papernote from the paper note, wherein the paper note data includes aone-time-use authentication data; capturing, via the one or more visualinput devices, a digital image of the paper note; transmitting, via thenetwork, the paper note data and the digital image of the paper note toan authenticating party for authentication by the authenticating party;receiving, via the network, an authentication determination based on thepaper note data and the digital image of the paper note from theauthenticating party; and transmitting an authentication determinationresponse based on the authentication determination.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein a paper note may include at least one of: currency,bonds, stocks, checks, notarized documents, or certificates.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the one or more visual input devices includesat least one of: a camera or a scanner.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the authentication determination includes a determination thatat least one additional data is required, and wherein the authenticationdetermination response includes a description of the at least oneadditional data.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the description ofthe at least one additional data includes at least one of: a digitalimage of an original copy of the paper note stored over the network, averification signal from a paper note owner or paper note creator, or animage of a party attempting to authenticate the paper note.
 6. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the authentication determination includes adetermination that the paper note is not authentic, and wherein theauthentication determination response includes an alert to at least oneof: a paper note owner, a paper note creator, or a third party alertingsystem.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the alert includes at leastone authentication attempt data comprising at least one of: theauthentication attempt date and time, the authentication attemptlocation, or identification information of the party attempting toauthenticate the paper note.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein theauthentication determination includes a determination that the papernote is authentic and an updated one-time-use authentication data, andwherein the authentication determination response includes at least oneupdated paper note data.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein theauthentication data includes a pre-shared secret key.
 10. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the authenticating device is further configured totransmit to at least one data storage via the network, updated papernote data, wherein the updated paper note data comprises at least oneof: an authentication attempt date and timestamp, an authenticationlocation, a party identification of the party attempting to authenticatethe paper note, or the authentication determination.
 11. A methodcomprising: receiving, via an NFC reader of an authenticating device, atleast one paper note data associated with a paper note, wherein thepaper note data includes a one-time-use authentication data; capturing,via one or more visual input devices of the authenticating device, adigital image of the paper note; transmitting from the authenticatingdevice, via a network, the paper note data and the digital image of thepaper note to an authenticating party; receiving at the authenticatingdevice, via the network, an authentication determination from theauthenticating party, wherein the authentication determination is basedon the paper note data and the digital image of the paper note; andtransmitting from the authenticating device an authenticationdetermination response based on the authentication determination. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein a paper note may include at least oneof: currency, bonds, stocks, checks, notarized documents, orcertificates.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more visualinput devices includes at least one of: a camera or a scanner.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the authentication determination includes adetermination that at least one additional data is required, and whereinthe authentication determination response includes a description of theat least one additional data.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thedescription of the at least one additional data includes at least oneof: a digital image of an original copy of the paper note stored overthe network, a verification signal from a paper note owner or paper notecreator, or an image of a party attempting to authenticate the papernote.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the authenticationdetermination includes a determination that the paper note is notauthentic, and wherein the authentication determination responseincludes an alert to at least one of: a paper note owner, a paper notecreator, or a third party alerting system.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the alert includes at least one authentication attempt datacomprising at least one of: the authentication attempt date and time,the authentication attempt location, or identification information ofthe party attempting to authenticate the paper note.
 18. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the authentication determination includes adetermination that the paper note is authentic and an updatedone-time-use authentication data, and wherein the authenticationdetermination response includes at least one updated paper note data.19. The method of claim 11, wherein the authentication data includes apre-shared secret key.
 20. The method of claim 11, further comprisingtransmitting to at least one data storage via the network, updated papernote data, wherein the updated paper note data comprises at least oneof: an authentication attempt date and timestamp, an authenticationlocation, a party identification of the party attempting to authenticatethe paper note, and the authentication determination.